On Monday morning two arson attacks were made in Kerava, in all likelihood by the same person. A Turkish-owned kiosk and a hostel housing about thirty Portuguese shipyard workers were set on fire. The two buildings are located about 700 metres apart. Local police believe the motives may have been racist in origin.

   

The police questioned a suspect yesterday, but it turned out that they were on the wrong trail.

   

There have been other racist attacks this week. For example in Hyvinkää a foreign person’s car was smashed, and a xenophobic threat was left on the hood. These are solitary cases, but if the racist flames are fanned, the crime levels are likely to increase.

   

There are no statistics to be had yet on the crime rate against foreigners, as the Ministry of the Interior is still analysing the 1999 crime reports. It does seem, however, that xenophobia is on the increase. Nevertheless, in the smaller towns such as Kerava and Hyvinkää it is usually one or two people who are behind the violence, and are responsible for blackening the reputation of the area.

   

The police are paying more attention to racist crimes, but often the police reports are lacking in information. The Ministry of the Interior first analysed crimes directed at foreigners in 1998, and then it was found that only 14% of these crimes had been classified as racist crimes in the police reports. The situation has since improved.

   

The increase in the report of racially motivated crimes might be due to the fact that these crimes are more easily perceived than before. It might also be due to the fact that foreigners are actually going to the police to report such crimes. Nevertheless the miserable fact still remains that the majority of these offences are never reported.